Author Topic: Heat treating character staves  (Read 843 times)

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Offline hammerstone

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Heat treating character staves
« on: January 07, 2024, 05:30:40 pm »
Surely you guys have some methods to keep from scorching the backs of character staves when heat treating

Offline superdav95

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Re: Heat treating character staves
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2024, 06:17:44 pm »
Yes I believe I do.  I’m sure other as well will have some input as well.  Last few times I’ve done heat treating over a hot coal pit or a heat gun I’ve thought to myself “why am I getting so much wrap around heat and concentrate heat build up on the back of my bows?”   My theory is that the heat is reflecting or bouncing off the form and building or ramping up the heat on the back that may not be sitting tightly on the form due to character of the stave used.  I did some experimenting with heat gun and an old roughed out bow that had lots of character in it and clamped it down to my form but cut a strip of insulation and placed it between the bow and the form. 

An example of what I used like this.
Frost King Foil Backed Fiberglass Pipe Wrap, 3"x1"x25' https://a.co/d/b81d2hM

Anything similar I’m sure would work too.  You could even just take regular rock wool or pink insulation and cut it into 2” wide strips by say 1” thick sections and lay this down with some double sided tape even.  The basic idea is to prevent or mostly eliminate heat wrap around scorch on the back where you don’t want it.  My initial test seem promising and will be doing this on my next batch of heat treatment bows. 
Sticks and stones and other poky stabby things.

superdav95@gmail.com

Offline Hamish

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Re: Heat treating character staves
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2024, 06:01:25 am »
Sounds like a really good idea Dave.

Offline Del the cat

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    • Derek Hutchison Native Wood Self Bows
Re: Heat treating character staves
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2024, 07:53:49 am »
I clamp thin slats of wood to the side*, this also helps direct heat along the belly) or add layers of masking tape over the back when using a heat gun.
Del
* Obviously this is tricky with a snaky stave.
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline Selfbowman

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Re: Heat treating character staves
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2024, 02:16:58 pm »
Cool I’ll be trying it.
Well I'll say!!  Osage is king!!

Offline Mo_coon-catcher

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Re: Heat treating character staves
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2024, 05:29:23 pm »
I’ve never had an issue with heat rebound and scorching the back. Atleast not enough to matter. But I hold the heat gun and an angle at a distance the main stream of hot air stays within the width of the limb, let’s say 2-3” away from the limb. And I keep the heat gun moving. Not very fast but I bough to warm the wood. I’ll generally keep on each limb for about 30-60 min depending on the wood and how quick it’s soaking up the heat. Once I can’t hold balmy hand on the belly and the back is hot I’ll bring the heat gun closer and move it slower so i scorch the belly a little. It generally takes a few passes to get the color I want. By constantly moving the gun the back doesn’t get near as much rebound heat and most of it dissipates before it does any harm. I hope this makes sense.

Kyle